Comment · Tue, October 17, 2023 · ND Owner
Did they change the Gotu Kola capsules? The ones on the left are the new batch... not sure if still enteric coated.
What they were answering
Sad-Confidence6647 · 10 points
That makes sense. My only concern is whether this change to acid-resistant capsules will affect the absorption of the compounds that it’s very important make it into the small intestine unaffected. Because if I remember correctly you stated that the 2 main compounds responsible for the skin health benefits are the ones that are extremely sensitive to degradation. And the skin benefits is also the main reason I use Gotu Kola.
So is there any reason to have concern that this change will affect the absorption and protection of those specific compounds? I only ask because I feel like I vaguely remember you criticizing the use of acid-resistant capsules in the past due to them not holding up anywhere near as well as enteric-coated tablets. I could be mis-remembering, though.
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb · ND Owner
The acid resistant capsules will absolutely dissolve faster than the enteric coated tablets. There is no way around that. Even normal "enteric" coatings most places do on tablets fail our testing. We have literally found one single facility in the entire world that will do the coating properly, and they just keep raising their prices and MOQs. Every single "enteric" capsule we have tested on the market fails. Every single one. The issue is that the USP standard is dog shit, and was set decades ago. It says that it only has to survive simulated gastric fluid for 1 hour. That's it. That's the standard. So everyone just does that. However, the average gastric transit time is 4 hours. That's what we set our specs to, because that makes sense. If it takes an average of 4 hours for things to leave your stomach, enteric should protect from stomach acid for 4 hours. Seems logical to me. However, everyone thinks we are crazy people with high standards. I guess that's true. It's just those standards shouldn't be considered high. If you call something enteric, that word should have meaning. The issue is that to accomplish that, you need to get into polymer science, which is way over the heads of anyone in the supplement industry. Most people in this industry are brain dead morons that wouldn't know real science if it smacked them upside their heads. They don't give a shit, either. Bumbling through things and using fraudulent marketing and influencers will always make way more money than raising yourself to a higher standard. If we could make it work, we would have kept them as enteric coated tablets, as that is the only formulation that fits the definition I feel is honest. We just can't make it work for this product at the current time. If you take it while fasted, your stomach acid should be low. Then drink a bunch of water and work out, and it will speed up transit time through the stomach.